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HBO Max Announces New $9.99 Ad-Supported Tier That's Launching in June

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The HBO Max streaming service is gaining a new ad-supported tier that will be priced at $9.99 per month, which is $5 cheaper than the $14.99 price point of a standard HBO Max subscription.

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News of a cheaper ad-supported HBO Max tier first circulated in March, and the new pricing was officially announced at a WarnerMedia event. The $9.99 tier will be available starting the first week of June.

HBO Max will feature the "lightest ad load in the streaming industry" for its ad-supported tier. It will include access to HBO's original programming plus the back catalog of content from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, Turner Classic Movies, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, and more.

Not included is access to same-day premiere film releases from Warner Bros., a feature that will require a full $14.99 subscription.

The ad-supported tier will feature limited commercials, and in the future, pause ads that show up when a show is paused, and branded discovery, which will see ads shown in the content discovery process.

Tag: HBO Max

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Top Rated Comments

vagos Avatar
vagos
65 months ago
So you both pay and watch ads? The worst of both worlds.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
adamjackson
65 months ago
There are some people in the world who are:

A) Price sensitive and can't afford more than $10 a month for a streaming service
B) Don't care about advertisements

I'm not one of those people. I have never accepted any service with ads that doesn't allow me to pay more to remove them. In fact, when, as a YouTube Red subscribe, a video has a product placement, I unsubscribe from the channel and don't come back.

My girlfriend spends an hour every day playing a game for 6 months now that is 99 cents to disable advertisements. I watch her sit through 10 second ads a few times a day for months. it's driving me insane. Why doesn't she just spend the dollar?!?!? Actually, I'm going to Apple Pay Cash her a dollar now and ask her to spend it on ad-free.

Hint MR Editors, if you offered an ad-free RSS feed, I'd pay for it (i.e. no promotions/giveaways/deals)

EDIT: and for your information, NO I am not fun at parties nor am I ever invited to any.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
Scipster
65 months ago
Or you can get high quality content from Apple TV+ for only $4.99/month. Ad free. Same price since launch. Highly recommend.

But yeah, pay for ads? I don't think so. Free with ads, maybe.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B
bgalakazam
65 months ago
So going full circle on how cable started. Paid but with no ads to gradually be paid with a ton of ads...
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
prizm Avatar
prizm
65 months ago

If I was 100% invested in HBO’s content then I would pay full price. Because I’m paying several streaming services and I watch a little of all of them, the ad tier makes sense for me. I don’t mind a few ads.
The key to your statement is "a few ads". The Hulu tier with ads is almost unwatchable. The same ads, over and over again. Awful.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fwmireault Avatar
fwmireault
65 months ago

Or you can get high quality content from Apple TV+ for only $4.99/month. Ad free. Same price since launch. Highly recommend.

But yeah, pay for ads? I don't think so. Free with ads, maybe.
I do have an Apple TV+ subscription and I watch many of its shows. Many of them are great. But we can’t compare apples (lol) and oranges. Netflix, HBO, Disney have way more shows and movies to give in their subscription than Apple. It will take a few years to get there.

But yeah. Having to pay for a subscription and still having ads is bad.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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